Who, out of all 8 of us, is actually enjoying Fallout: 76?
Now hear me out, alright? This is a very polarizing issue but I do want some experienced opinions on the matter. There are too many bandwagoners spouting regurgitated opinions and it's hard to pick out the genuine impressions
When 76 went on sale, I decided to grab it up. Yes, I know, I'm the cancer rewarding Bethesda for a low hanging cash grab effort and I should be ashamed. However, I really wanted an educated opinion on the matter and I had the money. So, despite the hivemind having made themselves up, and myself being not so keen on the decisions, I buckled down and dived in.
So, while everyone's complaints were focused more towards gameplay, engine, and server side issues (which are completely valid complaints), I found myself blown away, and deeply saddened, by the art direction. The game honestly does look beautiful! I got sick of dilapidated buildings and browns and greens in Fallout 3 and 4, and New Vegas was nice when it wasn't brown sand and olive brush. This game looks gorgeous. They managed to throw a ton of different tiny biomes into one map, that all look interesting and appealing to the eye (once you tweak the .ini to get rid of the god awful Depth of Field). Lots of beautiful forest settings and foreboding mountains.
But overall, my favorite thing about the game is the enemy design. And no, I don't mean the stupid scorched. My favorite thing about Fallout has always been the mutation/radiation angle. I love the possibility for terrifying and disgusting mutated creatures, and the art team absolutely nailed it with creatures like the Wendigo, Snallygaster, Grafton Monster, and Gulper. Just super unsettling and creepy monsters in the most literal sense. I feel the worst for the art team, who did a fantastic job but who were ultimately drowned out by the flak thrown at the gameplay and bugs.
This, of course, does not excuse the horrendous bugs encountered during regular play. Power Armor pieces not actually being repaired yet still using up mats, constant server disconnects, poor scaling system (Did a level 70 player walk into an area first? Well expect every enemy there to be around their level even if you enter!), awful graphics setting options (for the love of god, no more depth of field), no push to talk voice (seriously?), poor economy, exploits, and lack of true endgame, among many others I've missed.
So, does anybody else want to expand?
I feel like this is the case more and more with modern games. The art teams push out stellar scenery, amazing models, textures, and UI (for consoles at least, some PC ports do this badly). But the game-play lags behind with boring copy+paste quests, bad story, repetitive game-play, bugs, loot-boxes, etc. It's not surprising though, since screenshots, box art, and 20 seconds YouTube clips are the main advertisement for games, not the game-play itself.
I remember playing games in the 90s and thinking so enthusiastically about how games in the future would have deeper and deeper gameplay with more complex, realistic systems and endless adaptive storytelling capabilities.
That hasn't happened whatsoever. If anything gameplay has regressed in the past 20 years. Games like Deus Ex and Homeworld were coming out at the time, pushing the boundaries, doing amazing gameplay that no one has even thought of before, but here we are playing games that are inferior to them in every way except for graphics.
I don't know if I'm jaded or what, but it seems like the most important part of games; gameplay, is the part that receives the least attention.
You should try interactive stories, I remember playing games in the early 2000s thinking the same as you and now I feel very disappointed about most games. I get bored and abandon them very quickly, but I've rediscovered my love for video games thanks to those that are like interactive films. Give games from Quantic Dream or lesser known developers such as Giant Sparrow a try. Those developers focus a lot on the story and keeping you entertained with it, there's little gameplay (but enough to keep you playing) and no repetitive missions to do, so you generally get quality stories.
I agree, it definitely feels like the big budget AAA studios have mostly allowed their gameplay design to stagnate at best or devolve into cash-grab microtransaction/loot-box oriented affairs, though I'm probably being a little over-broad and pessimistic.
It really is the smaller AA/indie groups that have continued to innovate, and there's a wealth of fascinating projects that would not have been made 20 years ago. There's plenty that were just outright computationally infeasible back then, the Dwarf Fortress/RimWorld/Factorio/Minecraft family, and there's games that iteratively build on what it means to tell a story with a game, the "walking simulators" from Amnesia to Until Dawn or Gone Home to Edith Finch (since you mentioned Giant Sparrow).
I think there's also more visibility to more experimental/oddball games than there used to be, the likes of Bennett Foddy (Getting Over It), Brendan Chung, Increpare, or Porpentine will certainly never be household names, but they are brought up more often and their work is easier to find and discuss than it ever used to be.
That's why Let's Plays on YouTube are important! Paradox does a decent job of playing their games live before they come out so you can see the game play before you buy.
Frankly, I was put off on 76 ever since it was officially announced. The whole game play concept sounded like they were trying to find new ways to monotize the franchise.
I didn't play the game nor am I a Fallout/ Bethesda fan. But from what I understood beyond the 'circlejerk' is that people simply don't think that this game was worth 60$, regardless if it's enjoyable or not.
When Fallout 76 has the same price as New Vegas, Fallout 3, Skyrim and Oblivion, it sort of implies that it will be held at the same standards as those previous games. When in reality, it wasn't.
if fallout 76 uses the same engine, that engine was already old by fallout 4. doesn't help.
I'm actually really enjoying it.
I'd love to hear your favorite parts! I'm always interested in how people make the best out of what some find as a otherwise lacking game.
No, and not even a fallout fan but I appreciate your take on it. It is nice to see a text post on games here.
Thanks! I've had enough of articles and wanted to spark discussion lol